The Real Bruce Lee: Tribute to fallen officer Bruce Lee, gone but not forgotten

Bruce kevin lee (photo credit: Bonnie Fortney- Wichita)

May 13, 2003 was a regular work day for me. I woke up early, went into the kitchen to make tea and have a bowl of cereal before I left for work.

I turned on the television to listen to what passes for news in Los Angeles. The news readers were doing the usual, talking about events that had occurred in southern California in the last few hours. I was sort of listening to the news reader when I heard, "Deputy killed in Indio." It had been 22 years since I had worked in Indio. I didn't think there was much of a chance that I would know the officer the news reader was talking about. I sat in my chair and waited for the commercial to end. The news came back on and I looked at a picture of a deputy who I had trained when he was a rookie and I was a field training officer.

Bruce Lee was a good trainee and had visited me in Los Angeles in 1981, after I had screwed up by leaving the sheriff's office. I had introduced him to my new captain, who thought that I was kidding when I said, "Skipper, I want you to meet a friend of mine, Bruce Lee." The captain thought that he was going along with the joke. He replied, "Bruce Lee, I've heard of you before."

The news reader went on to say that Bruce had answered a disturbing the peace call in La Quinta, near Indio. A suspect named Kevin Diablo (real name) confronted Bruce at the scene and took Bruce's baton away from him, inflicting several blows to Bruce's head and neck, causing the severe trauma that killed him. The 23-year-old suspect was known to have mental problems, but the news did not say if anyone told the sheriff's dispatcher that fact when they called the station. A back-up deputy arrived to find Bruce's motionless body on the ground and was confronted by Mr. Diablo, who was wielding Bruce's baton. The deputy fired his service weapon and killed the deranged man.

It was a sad day for me as I drove to work, listening to the radio. Trying to find any information about Bruce Lee's murder I would later find out that Lee had recently transferred back to Indio to work in patrol after spending time as a traffic accident investigator in a contract city not far from Indio.

Sadly, I was unable to attend Bruce's funeral. He was buried on his 46th birthday.

Leroy B. Vaughn is a former U.S. Marine Corps Military Policeman, Security Agent, State Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff and served as a military contractor in the Middle East.